Using Leeds Bradford Airport Questions & Reviews

[jason1-11]

Flew to BHD last Tuesday on the 11:10 departure. The terminal was as quiet as a Wednesday in winter so a breeze to pass through . Flight 95 % full. Returned on the Thursday 16:30 arrival on a full flight. Bizarrely though we were parked on stand 20A which made the pilots make a joke as it was a part of the airport they had never visited before. Also, went through the dedicated domestic arrival section for the first time which is hopefully due for the chop as and when we get a new terminal .

All in all a great little break flying from LBA and although possibly in the minority, I actually liked the Dash 8. A couple of those based at LBA would be an ideal start.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

And i do.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

UK's worst airports revealed.

Revealed: The worst UK airports - and the best ones

Northern Ireland's busiest airport ranked bottom of an annual survey by consumer group Which?

news.sky.com

View attachment 14477

 

[paully]

UK's worst airports revealed.

Revealed: The worst UK airports - and the best ones

Northern Ireland's busiest airport ranked bottom of an annual survey by consumer group Which?

news.sky.com

View attachment 14477

Another stupid and unbalanced report from the increasingly irrelevant Which?..Of course things are going to be easy if you have an airport with hardly any flights a week Doncaster and Bournemouth to name but 2. Those named as poor are working their nuts off, sometimes, beyond capacity to fulfil needs. Something has to give. However if Which? had bothered to balance and allow for passenger and flight numbers, they would have been forced to come to some different conclusions..
But then they are in the business of selling a product, so what does one expect??

 

[Tarn Spotter]

UK's worst airports revealed.

Revealed: The worst UK airports - and the best ones

Northern Ireland's busiest airport ranked bottom of an annual survey by consumer group Which?

news.sky.com

View attachment 14477

I am sure a VIP service and private jet would rate higher then any bucket and spade flight, but there not like for like, nor is this survey.

 

[LBAYORKIE]

The airports are grouped according to their size, so there is an allowance made for traffic levels. Personally I find Which? to be a really good publication that provides really good consumer advice. The report does mention the throughput of 1.2M for Doncaster and that this is the 3rd year in a row it has taken top spot. Hopefully the terminal extension at Leeds will help improve our rating in the next couple of years. Its a challenge LBA should be equal to.

 

[Aviador]

I think it's fair to say if you want an easy transfer through a terminal, a quiet airport is always going to offer you the best experience over a busier airport. It's a no brainer. The point here is the reason why LBA is busier than DSA?

 

[airforced]

There is one thing that this and other surveys can't take into account and that is that passengers will always appreciate an uncrowded airport and this fact will sway may of them to vote 'like' for the airport in question. My observation, and question therefore is, would those people have voted for DSA had they been handling the number of passengers the terminal was built for? DSA has lost traffic and is just slumbering at the moment. If LBA had only been handling the 1.2M quoted here they would have comfortably been able to accomodate that number of passengers and in relative comfort so the outcome of the survey may well have been different in that case.

I flew from DSA a couple of years ago and whilst it was a comfortable experience it was clear to me that the airport was struggling and that Peel would have loved to have seen many more bums on seats and sod the results of any survey.

I think we all know which airport is performing better with more destinations and routes. I still prefer LBA over DSA as there are more routes with better frequencies with the added bonus of some competition which keeps many prices in check. Well done DSA but being top in such a survey doesn't make you successful.

 

[Finger66]

Let's have a game of guess the poster impersonation: LBA will never be top spot whilst it has an undulating runway

 

[Seasider]

Used LBA last Friday for the KLM 10am flight. arrived just before 8am and walked straight through Security.Sat at the food court windows and watched the "action" for just over a hour,relatively quite. When the flight was called I moved Thro' the duty free and the departures area and again it was quiet with plenty of seats.
The flight was practically full and crew friendly and professional. A very enjoyable experience, an advantage of flying outside the busy times.

 

[jason1-11]

Flew up to LBA yesterday from LHR on a BA day return. Got to see all 3 celebratory BA 747’s: BOAC @T5, Landor @T3 and the Negus @ BA Maintenance on departure. The flight was 99% full with only the odd seat free. Plenty of foreign voices onboard and I sat next to a young Indian student heading for Leeds Uni. Aircraft placed on stand 10 on arrival as Jet 2 and KLM were occupying the airbridges so bused to the terminal.

Return had about 65 on board. Terminal moderately busy, but no queues and had a nice feel to it even thought there were ~ 5 departures due. Maybe some of the aircraft had already boarded perhaps. Sat in the 14/32 Lounge on my own as it was only being used for BA and KLM passengers, but did get to see the comedy of the stand 8 airbridge.

A Jet2 757 pulled off the bridge heading to Bodrum about 5 minutes before the BA landed. As the 319 was being guided onto stand it was observed that the bridge wouldn’t move apart from the odd judder. After numerous attempts to fix the staff gave up and the aircraft then pulled forward and deplaned via steps about 5 minute later. Even the Captain came to have a look prior to disembarkation . We were then called to board form 3 different gates: 4,5 and 6 so not sure what was going on there , but apparently the bridge is working today as per KARFA.

Had the same cabin crew for both flights so they must have pulled the scheduling short straw J

 

[jason1-11]

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[KARFA]

working jetbridge this evening @jason1-11

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[stars&sids]

I think it's fair to say if you want an easy transfer through a terminal, a quiet airport is always going to offer you the best experience over a busier airport. It's a no brainer. The point here is the reason why LBA is busier than DSA?

I would say that LBA is much busier than DSA as it has been an established commercial airport since the 1950’s, where as DSA has been established since 2005. It takes time to attract airlines and services, and then the customers to use those services.
I have been supporting LBA since the late 1970’s, & well remember the yearly passenger figures hitting 400,000.
Less than half a million, but it seemed a lot at the time.

 

[White Heather]

I would say that LBA is much busier than DSA as it has been an established commercial airport since the 1950’s, where as DSA has been established since 2005. It takes time to attract airlines and services, and then the customers to use those services.
I have been supporting LBA since the late 1970’s, & well remember the yearly passenger figures hitting 400,000.
Less than half a million, but it seemed a lot at the time.

You are correct stars & sids, but the other problem with DSA is that it is not particularly central for any catchment area. The biggest city in the immediate area is obviously Sheffield but from there, it is just a simple really to get to East Midlands or Manchester, or for those living to the North of the city, up to Leeds.

The other issue is that since 2005, DSA has attracted a number of high profile airlines, but despite its new terminal, super long runway etc. those airlines failed to really succeed and left again pretty quickly. These include the likes of Easyjet, Ryanair, and others, and of course we can soon add Flybe to that list. Only TUi and Wizz have really succeeded with the airport now 14 years old. I remember that when it opened, the owners proclaimed that within 10 years it would be Yorkshire's No 1 airport. Since then DSA has achieved 1. something million passengers. In that same time I think we would find that LBA's passengers numbers have increased by more than that, largely due to Jet2 and Ryanair, but despite the loss of TUi and more recently the proposed Flybe base to DSA. Quite honestly I think that so far, DSA has failed to deliver what it claimed it would, and were it not for the success of the cargo operations there, it might be struggling even more.

 

[LBA4EVER]

Currently sat on Jet2 ls231 to BCN with a 1.5hr delay! Worst experience ever thru security, que literally out the door,only 1 body scanner in operation leading to mass delays,people running to gates,I and my 69 year old father and 70 year mother only just made it to the gate in time.the reason the flight is delayed was due to the long wait at security! It really is the worst I've ever seen it and believe you me that new terminal and airport upgrades need to be sorted asap!

 

[LBA4EVER]

Now been pushed to a remote stand as the airbridge is required!

 

[KARFA]

Doesn’t sound good. I would say that is easily remedied without any terminal upgrade - open more than one lane. I think there are 7 available lanes at LBA.

 

[Tarn Spotter]

Currently sat on Jet2 ls231 to BCN with a 1.5hr delay! Worst experience ever thru security, que literally out the door,only 1 body scanner in operation leading to mass delays,people running to gates,I and my 69 year old father and 70 year mother only just made it to the gate in time.the reason the flight is delayed was due to the long wait at security! It really is the worst I've ever seen it and believe you me that new terminal and airport upgrades need to be sorted asap!

According to FR24, L231 took off 42 minutes late and arrived 25 minutes late, took family to airport for LS 265 which also took off yesterday afternoon, took off 11 minutes late, they went through security.
Queues going through security at just after 3pm were not in to the main terminal, but just down the corridor, sent this thread to my son, who stated they did know of people running for the plane, but they had been unaware of the World Cycling events, causing traffic problems, not airport related.
Maybe people should check their route to the airport until next Sunday, as on my daily routes, they will be effected by this event.

 

[LBA4EVER]

Had a first ever thru

According to FR24, L231 took off 42 minutes late and arrived 25 minutes late, took family to airport for LS 265 which also took off yesterday afternoon, took off 11 minutes late, they went through security.
Queues going through security at just after 3pm were not in to the main terminal, but just down the corridor, sent this thread to my son, who stated they did know of people running for the plane, but they had been unaware of the World Cycling events, causing traffic problems, not airport related.
Maybe people should check their route to the airport until next Sunday, as on my daily routes, they will be effected by this event.

Yes the moment I'd sent this message we had the all clear so we were taken off the tug and off we went!